Lukas Nelson And Promise Of The Real On World Cafe

Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real appear inside the World Cafe Performance Studio.

Galea McGregor
/ WXPN

Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real make exactly the kind of music you would hope for from a new generation carrying the country-rock torch — music with guitars muscular enough to reach the back of the bar or tender enough to play for fireflies on the front porch. And there are lyrics with plenty of humor, heartache and just plain heart.

That's no surprise, given the company Promise of the Real keeps — it's been Neil Young's backing band, credited alongside Young on the 2015 album The Monsanto Years, and also on The Visitor, which just came out this month.

And, oh yeah, frontman Lukas Nelson is the son of Willie Nelson. Mind you, he didn't get the Neil Young gig by having a famous dad — he'll tell us the story. (Spoiler alert: It involves hard work.) When Lukas was a kid, he wanted to become great at guitar so that one day he could join his father's band and spend time with dad. Since then, he's been on the road with Willie, and played on records with him. And things have come full circle — Willie has now contributed some of his signature guitar playing to Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real's record.